The old English word hell comes from a root which means to cover or conceal. Similar words have a similar meaning. A hull is a covered part of a ship, or the covering of a nut. Healing is the covering of a wound. A shell is a covering, a whole is an uncovering, a hill is a covering of earth or stone over the level earth. In King James day to hell potatoes meant to store them underground as in a cellar. To hel a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. A book heller was the person who put the cover on a book.

Hell is the grave, the common grave of mankind no matter what the method of burial is. That is why Jonah, who thought he would die in the belly of the fish, called it hell, and Jesus went to hell. The Bible says God is in effect hell because he watches over it in order to see those who will one day be resurrected. (Jonah 2:2 / Psalm 16:10 / Matthew 12:40 / Acts 2:27-32 / Amos 9:2 / Psalm 139:8)

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Ever Learning 825

The old English word hell comes from a root which means to cover or conceal. Similar words have a similar meaning. A hull is a covered part of a ship, or the covering of a nut. Healing is the covering of a wound. A shell is a covering, a whole is an uncovering, a hill is a covering of earth or stone over the level earth. In King James day to hell potatoes meant to store them underground as in a cellar. To hel a house meant to cover a portion of it with tile. A book heller was the person who put the cover on a book.

Hell is the grave, the common grave of mankind no matter what the method of burial is. That is why Jonah, who thought he would die in the belly of the fish, called it hell, and Jesus went to hell. The Bible says God is in effect hell because he watches over it in order to see those who will one day be resurrected. (Jonah 2:2 / Psalm 16:10 / Matthew 12:40 / Acts 2:27-32 / Amos 9:2 / Psalm 139:8)

What you have to remember is that the bibles origin for the word hell didnt begin originate in english, we translated, so we must go back rather than forwards. would be crazy to put the new meaning of the word in place of the old.

What you have to remember is that the bibles origin for the word hell didnt begin originate in english, we translated, so we must go back rather than forwards. would be crazy to put the new meaning of the word in place of the old.

While I think it is important to go back it is also important to go forwards. Our current day understanding of hell is more based upon the English word than the ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin. Besides, we are also talking about the old English word which has changed in meaning.

I thought the original meaning of hell was a pit where they burned rubbish?

You are thinking of the Greek word Gehenna, which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Geh Hinnom and was - is a valley outside of ancient Jerusalem. But there are also two other Greek words, Haides and Tartarus, and one Hebrew word Sheohl which are also often mistranslated as hell. Hades (English transliteration) and Sheol (English transliteration) correspond to one another and both mean the unseen resting place of the dead. There is no consciousness there. When you die, according to the Bible, that's it. You are dead and buried. Not spirit, no soul, no ghost, no heaven and no eternal punishment.

Its kind of funny, if you think about it. The skeptics and atheists are always saying the Bible isn't true, just a bunch of crap, because when you die, that's it. You are dead. When that is exactly what the Bible says.

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theSOURCE 810

You are thinking of the Greek word Gehenna, which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Geh Hinnom and was - is a valley outside of ancient Jerusalem. But there are also two other Greek words, Haides and Tartarus, and one Hebrew word Sheohl which are also often mistranslated as hell. Hades (English transliteration) and Sheol (English transliteration) correspond to one another and both mean the unseen resting place of the dead. There is no consciousness there. When you die, according to the Bible, that's it. You are dead and buried. Not spirit, no soul, no ghost, no heaven and no eternal punishment.

Its kind of funny, if you think about it. The skeptics and atheists are always saying the Bible isn't true, just a bunch of crap, because when you die, that's it. You are dead. When that is exactly what the Bible says.

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The Silver Thong 3,930

I don't recall any UM poster ever having made that argument. It's a non sequitur.

I will pipe in and say yes the bible is a story book and as all of us and our biology is the same and yes we just die and that is our gift back to the earth that gave us the conditions to live. To pretend anything else is a wish at best. Not a non sequitur.

Paranoid Android 5,582

she'ôl - This is what Jews refer to as "Abraham's Bosom". It is a place the dead go to rest. King David and Abraham (possibly the two most influential patriarchs in Israel's history) are both in she'ôl according to the Bible! Though it must be said that most modern translations of the Hebrew scripture leave she'ôl untranslated, but the older versions of the Bible tended to translate it as "hell".

Hades - Literally translated it means, "Hole in the ground". Most often it refers to a grave or burial site. All people who die are destined to be buried in this place (unless of course one gets cremated - the irony being that the only way to avoid this Hell is to go through a burning fire of cremation).

Gehenna - The Valley of Gehenna sits outside Jerusalem. It was essentially a giant garbage dump, where people would take their rubbish and burn it. Sometimes, mostly for poorer people (those who could not afford tombs), it was also the place where people came to burn their dead. The Valley of Gehenna still exists today, and if you really wanted, you could make a trip there and visit it.

Tartaros - This is only mentioned once in the entire Bible (2 Peter 2:4). This is indeed a place of torture and torment. However, it is a place set aside for Satan and the demons. No human is ever described as going to this place (though a hint to the contrary may exist in Matthew 25). However, it is not described as a permanent eternal place.

One could also assume a reference to this in Revelation's limnē pur (translated as "Lake of Fire"), but I'd argue that this is just what the passage says it is, the "second death", not the "second place of eternal suffering and torment".

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scowl 3,078

Its kind of funny, if you think about it. The skeptics and atheists are always saying the Bible isn't true, just a bunch of crap, because when you die, that's it. You are dead. When that is exactly what the Bible says.

Explain Luke 23:42 and 43 to me when Jesus and a couple of other guys were dying on their crosses:

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Is heaven just for people who were lucky enough to die near Jesus when he died?

Explain Luke 23:42 and 43 to me when Jesus and a couple of other guys were dying on their crosses:

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Is heaven just for people who were lucky enough to die near Jesus when he died?

Its an interesting point. First of all recall that he said paradise. Not heaven. The meek shall inherit, what? The Earth. (Psalm 37:29) Second of all recall that for three days after Jesus died he was in hell. Not paradise. (Acts 2:30-31 / Luke 9:22 / John 20:17) Only a certain number of people go to heaven. (Revelation 7:3, 4; 14:1-3)

Some scholars think that Jesus said it like this: Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise." So that the today applies not in being in paradise, but in the telling of it. That sounds plausible, but isn't correct. The Encyclopedia Americana (1956, Vol. XXIII, p. 16) states: “No attempt to punctuate is apparent in the earlier manuscripts and inscriptions of the Greeks.” The Greek wouldn't have such punctuation until the 9th century C.E.

The Emphasised Bible translated by J. B. Rotherham agrees. In a footnote on Luke 23:43, translator L. Reinhardt says: “The punctuation presently used [by most translators] in this verse is undoubtedly false and contradictory to the entire way of thinking of Christ and the evildoer. . . . [Christ] certainly did not understand paradise to be a subdivision of the realm of the dead, but rather the restoration of a paradise on earth.”

Christ was talking about paradise restored. The man would be one of the meek who inherit the earth, and though it would be thousands of years later, it would seem to the man as if he had only just woke up from a sleep on that day.